Free Form Friday Smells Like Team Spirit

It's getting closer to beer-thirty. Raise your hand if you could use a tall boy:

You may have heard by now that Notre Dame has teamed with a fragrance maker to develop a university-themed frangrance. My first inclination was to scoff at the idea. What does Notre Dame smell like after all? Invisible girlfriends? Jimmy Clausen's tears? Besides, it's not like the Fainting Irish are the only college getting into the perfume business. Doesn't this fly in the face of the "Notre Dame is DIFFERENT!!!" meme that every Notre Dame grad I've ever met tries and fails to explain to me?

But the more I think about it the more I think the Irish may be onto something here. So much so that I'm wondering if the University of Georgia does not likewise need to jump into the cologne game.

What would a UGA fragrance smell like? I'm imagining notes of fresh cut Sanford Stadium grass, Varsity chili dog, and that indescribable aroma that used to emit from the Georgia Theater in the early morning hours of Sunday morning. Okay, maybe it needs some work. Anybody got any better ideas?

And while I'm soliciting your opinions, here's another question for you. How much is too much for a farm stand watermelon? Yesterday on the way home from work I stopped at a roadside stand to see what the guy in a tank top under a tent had to offer. I have some watermelons planted in my trusty backyard garden, but none are ready yet, so I was kind of hoping to find one to take home and fill the breach. After casually greeting Tank Top I took a quick look at his medium-sized melons (which is not something one stranger usually does to another on the side of a state highway, but whatever). Not bad, but not state fair winning by any means. I asked him how much for them.

"Nine" came the reply. I thought I'd misheard him. "Five?" I replied. "No. Nine!" he yelled back over the roar of a passing log truck. I politely thanked him and walked away. Because $9.00 seems really steep for an 8 pound watermelon. am I wrong? Homegrown melons are one of the true delights of summer, but I suspect this good ole boy was trying to take me for a ride.

Speaking of the joys of summer, another of them is the ever more recognizable approach of college football season. One way we know it's coming is the release of all the preseason college football magazines. Phil Steele's offering is out on news stands, as are those from Athlon, Lindy's and Sporting News, if my local Barnes & Noble is any indication. One of the staples of these publications is their annual All-American team.

But the print guys don't have a monopoly on that. We here at SB Nation have our own All-American list, which you can find here. It's not a bad list. If Jadeveon Clowney isn't on your ballot, for example, you just haven't seen the guy play. I'm also pleased that this site's championing of Artie Lynch may have helped him get the nod as 3rd team tight end. I believe that Todd Gurley should have gotten the nod over T.J. Yeldon at tailback, but can understand that Yeldon probably would have had a more ridiculous freshman season in 2012 if not for that pesky Eddie Lacy guy. And Gurley's 3rd team slot is nothing to sneeze at.

However, my colleagues are wrong, wrong, wrong to place Braxton Miller and Teddy Bridgewater in front of Aaron Murray. Miller's stat line looks downright puny next to Murray's. Bridgewater's numbers are comparable, but if Murray had gotten to throw against marshmallowy Big East defenses I tend to think his numbers would have been just this side of insane. But I guess that's what makes these lists great. Everybody's a pundit.

Feel free to talk amongst yourselves about whatever it is you want to talk about until the 5 o' clock whistle blows. And . . .

Go 'Dawgs!!!